Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Prerequisites 3
Limitations 3
Basic Workflow 3
Best Practices 4
GCP Objects and Terms 4
Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Use Cases 4
The DNS and RPZ Services Use Case 5
The Fault Tolerance and Disaster Recovery Use Case 5
The Maximum Availability Use Case 5
Install GCP Command Line Tools 5
GCloud CLI 5
GSUTIL 5
Prepare your GCP Environment 6
Create VPCs 6
Create Firewall Rules 9
Create Outbound Rules 9
Create Inbound Rules 11
Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Image 13
Download vNIOS for GCP Image 13
Upload Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Image File 15
Create Bucket 15
Upload Image File to Bucket 18
Create Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Custom Image 20
Deploy Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Instance 21
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 1 of 41 Configure Instance Size and Image 22
Configure User Data 24
Configure Network Interface(s) 25
Single Network Interface (NIOS 8.6) 25
Two Network Interfaces 28
Shared VPC (NIOS 8.6) 32
Connecting to Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Instance 35
Virtual Serial Port 35
SSH 38
Grid Manager 39
Troubleshooting 40
Additional Resources 40
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 2 of 41 Introduction Infoblox vNIOS for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a virtualized Infoblox appliance designed for deployment as a virtual machine (VM) instance in Google Cloud Platform. Infoblox vNIOS for GCP enables you to deploy robust, manageable, and cost effective Infoblox appliances in the Google Cloud. Infoblox NIOS is the underlying software running on Infoblox appliances and provides core network services and a framework for integrating all the components of the modular Infoblox solution. It provides integrated, secure, and easy-to-manage DNS (Domain Name System), IPAM (IP address management) and other services.
Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliances can either be joined to an existing on-premises or hybrid/multi cloud grid, or the entire grid can run in GCP. The vNIOS appliance can be configured as a primary DNS server for your GCP VPCs. You can also use Infoblox Cloud Network Automation with vNIOS for GCP to improve visibility of cloud resources and increase the flexibility of your cloud environment.
Prerequisites The following are prerequisites for deploying an Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance:
● Valid subscription in GCP. ● Appropriate permissions in GCP to create a VM instance and other required resources. ● VPC networks and Subnets. ● Understanding of basic networking concepts and tools, including public and private IP addressing, DNS, Secure Shell (SSH), and command line/terminal applications. Limitations The following general limitations apply for Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliances:
● Only provides the LAN1 and MGMT (not enabled by default) interfaces. ● No High Availability (HA) support. ● No native GCP support for Anycast with NIOS. ● vNIOS serving DHCP is not supported in GCP. Basic Workflow The following bullet points provide a basic outline of steps that an administrator new to GCP may follow when first starting out and creating an Infoblox VM:
● Install GCloud CLI and gsutil. ● Navigate to GCP: https://console.cloud.google.com/. ● Create one or two new VPCs and Subnets (NIOS 8.5 and 8.4 require two network interfaces, each in a separate VPC. Starting with NIOS 8.6, you can deploy one or two network interfaces). ● Upload image file and Create custom image. ● Launch your Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance using the custom image. ● Once the Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance has successfully deployed, verify its IP configuration. ● Connect to the Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance and begin using it.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 3 of 41 Best Practices ● For maximum availability, Infoblox appliances should be deployed across as many different Availability Zones and Regions as possible. ● Promptly change the default admin password in NIOS. ● Use Name Server Groups to simplify name server assignments for DNS configurations. GCP Objects and Terms Before implementing Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, an administrator must understand common terms or objects available in GCP related to the implementation of vNIOS. The following are common objects and terms:
● VPC: Virtual Private Clouds provide network functionality for Compute Engine and other resources. Networks and subnets are found within VPCs. ● Shared VPC: Shared VPCs allow resources from multiple projects to connect to a central VPC network, providing connectivity between all resources using private IP addresses. ● Persistent Disk: Block storage used for virtual machine instance disks. ● Cloud Storage: Object storage with options suitable for many use-cases. ● Cloud Functions: A serverless platform for automation of events and execution of scripts. ● Instance Availability Policies: Used to control a VM’s maintenance or restart behavior. ● GCloud CLI: A CLI tool installed locally that enables you to script operations and to create and manage services and resources in GCP. ● GSUTIL: A CLI tool for managing Google Storage resources. ● Instance: A virtual machine (VM) deployed in GCP. ● Compute Engine: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering on Google Cloud that provides VMs and other compute workloads. ● Bucket: Basic organizational containers that hold data and objects in Google Cloud storage. ● Region: A collection of datacenters in a specific geographic area where you can choose to host resources. ● Zone: Often referred to as an Availability Zone. An isolated location within a Region. Some resources, such as VM instances are zonal, meaning they are contained in a single zone. Other resources, including subnets span multiple zones in a region. ● Cloud Interconnect: A highly available, low latency connection between your on-premises network and Google Cloud. Can also connect through a partner service provider. Source: https://cloud.google.com/docs/
Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Use Cases The following are common use cases for the Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance:
● Providing DNS and RPZ/DNS Firewall services from within the Google Cloud for GCP, on-prem, and other cloud-based clients. ● Expanding services to the GCP cloud for additional fault tolerance and disaster recovery (DR) purposes. ● Providing services with maximum availability across multiple zones and regions.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 4 of 41 The DNS and RPZ Services Use Case In this use case, DNS and RPZ services are hosted in GCP. This enables you to distribute enterprise DNS services for clients operating in GCP, on-prem, and across the Internet. One or more Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliances are deployed in GCP across as many different zones and regions as feasible. These appliances can also be integrated with an existing Grid, either on-prem or in the cloud. Clients are then updated to use your Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance(s) for DNS resolution, providing them with your enterprise DNS and RPZ services.
The Fault Tolerance and Disaster Recovery Use Case This use case is for Fault Tolerance and Disaster Recovery. In case of failure in the Primary Datacenter (power outage, network outage, or other critical failure) an Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance enabled as a Grid Master Candidate (GMC) can be promoted to the Grid Master role so that Grid services can continue to operate. DNS services can also be redirected to servers operating in GCP, possibly without even requiring any manual intervention and helping ensure that business continues to function.
The Maximum Availability Use Case In many cases, it can be a challenge to implement services in a way that maximizes availability across a distributed environment in a secure manner and without deploying more resources than are required. One method for accomplishing this may be by leveraging a ‘shared services VPC Network’ where critical services, including your Infoblox servers, operate from. VPC Network Peering can be used to connect other VPC Networks to the management VPC Network.
This allows for seamless communications between those VPC Networks and the shared services VPC Network, without allowing connectivity between the other subnets. Traditional routing and/or VPN’s can also be used to allow connectivity into the shared services VPC Network for VPC Networks which cannot leverage VPC Network Peering, or even from networks outside of GCP.
Install GCP Command Line Tools Uploading and creating the custom image used to deploy vNIOS in GCP requires the use of GCP command line tools. This section describes how to install these tools prior to starting deployment.
GCloud CLI One tool that is required is the GCloud CLI. The steps to install the GCloud CLI will vary depending on your operating system. Visit https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/ for installation instructions and to download the installer for your operating system. Make sure to install the GCloud CLI before proceeding through this guide. Once installed, run the command gcloud auth login to login and start your session. This will open a browser window. Follow the prompts to complete the login process.
GSUTIL Another tool that is optional here is the GSUTIL (Google Storage Utilities), an open-source project available on GitHub. This command line tool is used to interact with GCP storage objects and buckets. The project page can be found at https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/gsutil/. Installation instructions will vary depending on your operating system version and can be found at https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/gsutil_install.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 5 of 41 For additional references and usage information, visit https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/gsutil. Prepare your GCP Environment Once you install the necessary tools and login to your GCP account, you are ready to begin setup of resources such as the VPC networks and Firewall rules. These will be required before you can deploy and use any virtual machines.
Create VPCs To create your VPCs and subnets, login to the GCP Console.
1. In the Navigation menu, expand VPC network and select VPC networks.
2. If prompted, click Enable billing (This is required for first time use on a new account).
3. Click CREATE VPC NETWORK.
4. Type a name, description (optional) and set the Subnet creation mode to Custom.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 6 of 41 5. Type a name for your subnet. 6. Expand the Region menu and select the region for your subnet. 7. Type the IP address range for your subnet. Example: 10.0.1.0/24. 8. Click Done for the subnet.
9. Click CREATE.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 7 of 41 Note: Starting with NIOS version 8.6, instances can be deployed with either one or two NICs. For older NIOS versions, two NICs and two VPC networks are required when deploying vNIOS for GCP appliances. If required or desired, repeat the above steps to create a second VPC network with a subnet in the same region, using a different address range. 10.Wait and verify that your VPC network(s) are created successfully.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 8 of 41 Create Firewall Rules The firewall rules are used to control network access into and out of your VPC networks. In this example, we walk through the steps to create a rule to allow all egress (outbound) traffic from your Infoblox vNIOS for GCP instance and a rule to allow ingress (inbound) traffic on specific ports. To create your firewall rules:
1. In the Navigation menu, expand the VPC network and select Firewall.
Create Outbound Rules 2. Click CREATE FIREWALL RULE.
3. Type a name and (optional) a description. Note: To make it easy to identify the rules you are creating for your VPC, prefix the rule name with your VPC name. Example: vpc1-outbound-all-allow. 4. Expand the Network menu and select your VPC network. 5. The priority is used to control the order in which the firewall rules are processed, starting from 0. GCP uses a default of 1000. In this example, we will first set the Egress rule to allow all outbound traffic, so we will change this to 0.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 9 of 41 6. Set the Direction of traffic to Egress and Action on match to Allow.
7. Expand the Targets menu and select All instances in the network.
8. For the Destination filter select IP ranges. 9. For the Destination IP ranges, enter 0.0.0.0/0 to allow outbound traffic to any destination.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 10 of 41 10.Toggle the Protocols and ports option to Allow all. 11.Click CREATE.
12.If you are deploying an instance with two NICs, repeat the above process to create an outbound rule for your second VPC. Create Inbound Rules Next, we’ll create a firewall rule to allow appropriate traffic inbound to the VPC for the vNIOS instances. For full details on ports and protocols used by Infoblox NIOS, refer to NIOS documentation at https://docs.infoblox.com.
1. Click CREATE FIREWALL RULE. 2. Type a name and (optional) a description. Note: To make it easy to identify the rules you are creating for your VPC, prefix the rule name with your VPC name. Example: vpc1-inbound-allow. 3. Select your VPC network and set the Priority. 4. Set the Direction of traffic to Ingress and Action on match to Allow.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 11 of 41 5. Expand the Targets menu and select All instances in the network. 6. Expand the Source filter menu and select IP ranges. 7. For the Source IP ranges, enter 0.0.0.0/0 to allow traffic from anywhere. Note: For security of production environments, limit the source IP ranges.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 12 of 41 8. Toggle the Protocols and ports option to Specified protocols and ports. 9. Check the boxes for tcp and udp. 10.Enter the following ports: o TCP: 22, 53, 443 o UDP: 53, 1194, 2114
11.Click CREATE. 12.If you are deploying an instance with two NICs, repeat the above process to create an inbound rule for your second VPC. 13.Verify all rules were created successfully.
Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Image The Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance can be deployed using an image file downloaded from the Infoblox Support portal.
Download vNIOS for GCP Image To download the virtual machine image file:
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 13 of 41 1. In your browser, navigate to https://support.infoblox.com/ and sign in. 2. Click on Downloads.
3. Expand the Infoblox Software menu and select NIOS/vNIOS.
4. Select the General maintenance products option.
5. Select a version (requires NIOS 8.4 or later for two NIC instancesand 8.6 or later for single NIC instances).
6. Scroll down to and expand the vNIOS for GCP option.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 14 of 41 7. Click on the Resizable Download Image link.
8. Accept any terms (if prompted). Depending on your browser settings, you may be prompted to save the file, or it may download automatically. Proceed through the prompts (if any) to complete the download. Upload Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Image File Before you can deploy your Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance, you will need to create a storage bucket and upload the appliance image. This can be done using the GCP Console or GSUTIL.
Create Bucket To create a bucket using the GCP Console:
1. In the GCP Console Navigation menu, expand Storage; select Browser.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 15 of 41 2. Click CREATE BUCKET.
3. Type a name, click CONTINUE.
4. Select Region for Location type and choose a Location from the dropdown. 5. Click CONTINUE.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 16 of 41 6. Use the default Standard storage class. Click CONTINUE.
7. Set Access control to Fine-grained. 8. Click CREATE.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 17 of 41 To create a bucket using the GSUTIL, use the following command examples: Note: This is optional and not required if you used the console method. 1. If not already logged in, first authenticate using the GCloud CLI: gcloud auth login 2. Use the following example to create a bucket: gsutil mb -c
1. Click UPLOAD FILES.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 18 of 41 2. Follow the prompts to browse to and upload your Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance image file. This file can be over 2 GB in size and the upload may take a while to complete.
3. Verify that the file upload completed successfully.
4. To get the URI of your uploaded image, which you will need to create a custom image, click on the file name in your bucket. 5. On the Object details page, click the copy button next to URI to copy this to your clipboard.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 19 of 41 Create Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Custom Image VM instances are deployed using a predefined image. These can be found in the GCP Marketplace, or existing disk, snapshot, image or cloud storage file. This guide provides the steps to create a custom image using an Infoblox vNIOS for GCP image file previously uploaded into your project’s storage bucket.
Important: Infoblox vNIOS version 8.4 and 8.5 appliances are deployed with two network interfaces that will correspond to the LAN1 and MGMT (not enabled by default in NIOS). Because of this, the MULTI_IP_SUBNET feature must be enabled in the image or else the deployed vNIOS appliance will be unable to communicate on the network. While the second network interface is optional beginning with NIOS 8.6, this method should still be used for creating custom images. As of this writing, the MULTI_IP_SUBNET feature is only available using the GCloud CLI. For more information regarding the deployment of virtual machines with multiple network interfaces in GCP, refer to https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/create-use-multiple-interfaces.
To create a custom image using the GCloud CLI:
1. Open a terminal or command line application on the computer where you installed the GCloud CLI. 2. If not already logged in, first authenticate using the GCloud CLI: gcloud auth login 3. Follow prompts in your browser to login. 4. Run the following command to create your custom image: gcloud compute images create "imagename" --guest-os-features MULTI_IP_SUBNET --source-uri gs://
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 20 of 41 b. In the above example, replace the URI with the URI for the Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance image file you uploaded in the last section.
5. Wait for the image creation to complete. 6. To view your new custom image in the GCP Console, in the navigation menu expand Compute Engine. Select Images.
7. Enter the name of your image in the filter.
Deploy Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Instance To deploy an Infoblox vNIOS for GCP virtual machine instance using the custom image you created:
1. In the GCP Console Navigation menu, expand Compute Engine. Select VM Instances.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 21 of 41 2. Click Create.
Configure Instance Size and Image 1. Type a name for your instance and select the desired Region and Zone. Note: This should be the same region your VPC subnets are in.
2. In the Machine configuration section, select the E2 or N2 series. 3. For Machine type, select Custom. Note: For some vNIOS models, standard or high memory sizes can be used instead of custom. Virtual hardware should meet the requirements shown for vNIOS models in the table below.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 22 of 41 The following table outlines the hardware specifications for the vNIOS appliance models supported on GCP: vNIOS Disk Size # of vCPU Memory Supported as Grid Master Appliance (GB) Cores Allocation (GB) and Grid Master Candidate IB-V825 250 2 16 Yes IB-V1425 250 4 32 Yes IB-V2225 250 8 64 Yes CP-V805 250 2 16 No CP-V1405 250 4 32 No CP-V2205 250 8 64 No
4. Set the Cores (CPU) and Memory to match the intended vNIOS Appliance model (the example used in this guide is an IB-V825).
5. For Boot disk, click Change.
6. Switch to the Custom images tab. 7. Select the custom image for your vNIOS for GCP appliance image from the dropdown.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 23 of 41 8. For Boot disk type, select Standard persistent disk. 9. Set the Size (GB) field to match the size required for the appliance model type being deployed. Refer to the table above for the supported disk sizes. 10.Click Select.
Configure User Data 1. Expand the Management, security, disks, networking, sole tenancy panel.
2. On the Management tab, under Metadata, enter user-data for Key. 3. For Data, enter: #infoblox-config
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 24 of 41 temp_license: nios IB-V825 enterprise dns cloud remote_console_enabled: y This will enable the SSH console and set temporary licenses for your vNIOS appliance. This is optional, as temporary and other licensing can be added later using the NIOS CLI.
Configure Network Interface(s) Infoblox vNIOS for GCP instances using NIOS version 8.6 and later can be deployed with one or two network interfaces. Instances deployed with a single network interface can be deployed into a standard VPC or a shared VPC. Older versions of NIOS require two network interfaces. Follow instructions in the appropriate subsection depending on the number of network interfaces and VPC type you will deploy.
Single Network Interface (NIOS 8.6) 1. Switch to the Networking tab. 2. Under Network Interfaces, click on the button for the network interface.
3. Expand the Network dropdown and select the VPC to use for the interface. 4. Select the subnet that you want to use for your interface.
5. It is recommended that you have a static IP address for the LAN1 interface. To reserve a static address, select Reserve static internal IP address from the Primary internal IP dropdown.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 25 of 41 6. In the dialog window, enter a Name for the IP reservation. 7. Under Static IP address, you can leave it set to Assign automatically or choose an IP address if desired. 8. Click RESERVE.
9. Select Create IP address from the External IP dropdown. Note: If you plan to connect to your vNIOS instance using VPN, Cloud Interconnect, or another private method, you may not need an External IP address.
10. In the Reserve IP dialog, enter a name for the reservation. 11. Select a Network Service Tier. 12. Click RESERVE.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 26 of 41 13. Click Done.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 27 of 41 14. Click on Create to begin deployment.
Two Network Interfaces 1. Switch to the Networking tab. 2. Under Network Interfaces, click on the button for the network interface.
Note: This first network interface will be labeled as nic0 for the GCP VM instance. When deploying instances with two interfaces, this will be the MGMT interface in vNIOS. 3. Expand the Network dropdown and select the VPC to use for the interface.
4. Select the subnet that you want to use for your interface. 5. Update any other settings as required. 6. Click Done.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 28 of 41 7. Click Add network interface.
Note: This new network interface will be labeled as nic1 for the GCP VM instance. This will be the LAN1 interface in vNIOS. 8. Select the VPC and subnet to use with this interface (this must be a different VPC than the one used with the MGMT interface).
9. It is recommended that you have a static IP address for the LAN1 interface. To reserve a static
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 29 of 41 address, select Reserve static internal IP address from the Primary internal IP dropdown.
10. In the dialog window, enter a Name for the IP reservation. 11. Under Static IP address, you can leave it set to Assign automatically or choose an IP address if desired. 12. Click RESERVE.
13. Select Create IP address from the External IP dropdown. Note: If you plan to connect to your vNIOS instance using VPN, Cloud Interconnect, or another private method, you may not need an External IP address.
14. In the Reserve IP dialog, enter a name for the reservation. 15. Select a Network Service Tier. 16. Click RESERVE.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 30 of 41 17. Click Done for the new (LAN1) Network Interface.
You should now have two network interfaces for the VM, as shown below.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 31 of 41 18. Click Create. Shared VPC (NIOS 8.6) When deploying a vNIOS for GCP instance with a single network interface, you can connect your instance to a Shared VPC network, provided from a host project. For additional information on GCP shared VPC, refer to https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/shared-vpc.
1. Switch to the Networking tab. 2. Under Network Interfaces, click on the button for the network interface.
3. Select Networks shared with me. 4. Select the Shared subnetwork that you want to use for your interface.
5. It is recommended that you have a static IP address for the LAN1 interface. To reserve a static address, select Reserve static internal IP address from the Primary internal IP dropdown.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 32 of 41 6. In the dialog window, enter a Name for the IP reservation. 7. Under Static IP address, you can leave it set to Assign automatically or choose an IP address if desired. 8. Click RESERVE.
9. Select Create IP address from the External IP dropdown. Note: If you plan to connect to your vNIOS instance using VPN, Cloud Interconnect, or another private method, you may not need an External IP address.
10. In the Reserve IP dialog, enter a name for the reservation. 11. Select a Network Service Tier. 12. Click RESERVE.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 33 of 41 13. Click Done.
14. Click on Create to begin deployment.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 34 of 41 Connecting to Infoblox vNIOS for GCP Instance Once your vNIOS for GCP appliance has been successfully deployed, you are ready to begin testing and using it. There are three methods available to connect to your vNIOS for GCP instance: virtual serial port, using SSH, and the Grid Manager GUI. To use the serial port, you will first need to enable it. To connect via SSH or Grid Manager GUI, you will need to know the public IP address of your instance. It is also possible to connect to your instance using the private IP address over VPN or Cloud Interconnect/Direct Peering, however that is outside the scope of this guide.
Virtual Serial Port Follow the steps in this section to use the virtual serial port for your vNIOS for GCP instance.
1. In the GCP Console Navigation menu, expand Compute Engine. Select VM Instances. 2. Click on your new vNIOS instance.
3. Click EDIT.
4. Click the checkbox to Enable connecting to serial ports under Remote access.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 35 of 41 5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save.
6. Back at the top of the VM instance details page, click Connect to serial console.
7. A new browser tab should open. This may take a few moments to connect as the console session is established with your Infoblox vNIOS for GCP appliance.
8. Login using the default credentials (admin/infoblox). 9. Run the command show network to view the local network configuration.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 36 of 41 10.Run the command show license to review any installed licenses.
11.You can use the set temp_license command to install additional temporary licenses if needed. Note: This is not needed if you set the temporary licenses in user-data during VM creation.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 37 of 41 12.For additional information on using the NIOS CLI, refer to https://docs.infoblox.com. 13.When you are done using the serial console, use the command exit, and then close the browser tab. SSH GCP provides multiple methods for establishing SSH connection to virtual machine instances as shown below. For additional information on using these connection methods, refer to https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/connecting-to-instance.
We will use a standard SSH client to connect for this guide. In order to connect via SSH, you will need to know the public IP address of your vNIOS for GCP VM instance. To find the public IP address:
1. On the VM Instances page in the GCP Console, click on your instance to view details.
2. Scroll down to the Network interfaces section. 3. Find the External IP for the LAN1 interface.
The screenshot above demonstrates an instance with a single network interface.
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 38 of 41 The screenshot above demonstrates an instance with two network interfaces.
4. Click the copy icon to copy the external IP address.
Once you have the public IP address, you are ready to connect via SSH.
5. Open a PowerShell or Terminal window on your computer (Putty or other SSH clients can also be used). 6. Enter the command ssh admin@
Grid Manager 1. Open a web browser on your computer. 2. Navigate to https://
Deployment Guide: Infoblox vNIOS for GCP, April 2021 39 of 41 Note: By default, NIOS uses a self-signed certificate. Warnings about the connection being insecure are to be expected and might require that you add an exception before being able to connect.
3. Login with the username admin and the password specified during deployment. 4. Accept the Infoblox End-User License Agreement. 5. Read and make a selection for the Infoblox Customer Experience Improvement Program.
Troubleshooting If you are unable to connect to your vNIOS for GCP appliance, the first thing to check is that it started up successfully. The easiest way to do this is through the logs from the Serial port 1 (console).
To check the Serial port logs:
1. On the VM instance details page, click on the Serial port 1 (console) link.
2. The Serial port viewer will be displayed and show a history of input/output. 3. Review for any errors. a. If you see a Fatal error during Infoblox startup message, the system is unable to load all required resources. The most common cause for this is not attaching the required second network interface when using a version that requires it. To recover from this error, delete the VM and create a new one, making sure to use two network interfaces for the VM. b. If you see the system successfully started up and is sitting at the login prompt, then the issue is external from the appliance. You will need to verify all network settings and firewall rules in your GCP environment. Additional Resources ● Deployment Guide: Infoblox vDiscovery for Google Cloud Platform: https://insights.infoblox.com/resources-deployment-guides/infoblox-deployment-guide-infoblox-vdiscov ery-for-gcp-google-cloud-platform. ● Infoblox NIOS and vNIOS Documentation: https://docs.infoblox.com. ● GCP Compute Engine Documentation: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs. ● GCP Virtual Private Cloud Documentation: https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs.
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